Vatican reportedly rejects gay French ambassador

The Catholic Church has been accused of blocking the appointment of a new French ambassador to the Vatican. Sources, including from inside the Holy See, say the diplomat may have been rejected because he is gay.

Usually it takes no
longer than a month and a half to accept a new ambassador’s
credentials.

Laurent Stefanini, who has been described as a “practicing
Catholic,” was nominated as France’s ambassador to the Holy
See by President Francois Hollande’s government on January 5. The
outgoing ambassador, Bruno Jouvert, left the Vatican at the end
of February, and the post has been vacant since March.

Stefanini, 55, currently serves as Hollande’s head of protocol.
He is a well-known figure in Rome, having served as deputy to the
ambassador at the French embassy in the Vatican from 2001 to
2005.

A Vatican insider reportedly told the newspaper that Stefanini's
rejection was allegedly “a decision taken by the Pope
himself.”

The controversy over Laurent Stefanini's approval could sour Pope
Francis's image as a more tolerant and gay-friendly pointiff than
his predecessors. In 2013, Pope Francis famously said: "If a
person is gay and seeks God and has goodwill, who am I to
judge?" He was responding to questions about whether there
was a "gay lobby" in the Vatican.

There have been two occasions in the last decade when the Vatican
has openly objected to ambassadors, citing their marital status
as Catholics. In one case, a gay Frenchman was rejected because
he was living in a civil union with another man, and in the
other, an ambassador from Argentina was divorced and lived with a
new partner.